The NYC Goldmund Media Room: Gaming Heaven

God may have created the world in seven days and then rested, but we're convinced he returned on Day 8 to create the Goldmund Media Room, a stylish new entertainment area that debuted in Manhattan's Flatiron District in late February. It costs a cool $1 million, so it took us 4.7 nanoseconds to accept an invite for a private demo of the space, including a two-hour, once-in-a-lifetime session of Final Fantasy XIII and Battlefield Bad Company 2 on Xbox 360.

So, how good was it? Let's just say PTSD is settling in.

Goldmund is a 32-year-old high-end audio provider based in Switzerland. They have offices all over the world but admit that they want to break into the North American market in a bigger way (most of their business actually comes from Russia). This spurred the need for them to build an impressive space to show off their wares to potential customers. Enter their state-of-the-art NYC Media Room.



To get a sense of the scope of how absurd their set-up is, take a look at the components hooked up in the room:


Yep, one meeeelllleeeonn smackaroos. Opting for in-wall installation rather than the Swiss-made aluminum cases can cut down the bill to a measly $500,000. (Excuse us while we go mortgage our grandchildren's children's future.)



So, with all of this insane equipment at our disposal, we did what all self-respecting children of the NES-era would do: Hook up a game console and proceed to couch-potato our way through a couple of hours of gaming.

First up was EA popular war sequel Battlefield: Bad Company 2. We're writers by trade, but when you're smack-dab in front of a 137-inch screen with top-of-the-line audio equipment blaring the stage of the Cold War into your ears, it's hard not to think you're actually on the front lines battling Commie bastards. The audio was on such a stratospheric level of fidelity, we could hear bubbles popping in the water during a nighttime amphibious sneak attack. We finished up our session with BC2, and deployed back to reality war-fatigued.



Next up was Final Fantasy XIII. If you've never experienced the series, there are three things to know about a good Final Fantasy game:

1 - The graphics are ridiculous; the good kind of ridiculous—not Jersey Shore ridiculous.
2 - Seizures from all of the flashing colors on-screen are normal. Come to love the seizures.
3 - The over-under on effeminate male characters is 15. (Always take the over. Always.)

Got it? Good. Now, allow us an addendum: ABC. Audio Be Crazy, especially on a system that can process every single noise appropriately. Sure, the Leona Lewis theme song and the softer, J-pop ambiance music takes a little getting used to, but it's hard to accurately describe the impact of the game's sound effects and soundtrack short of 'wow.'

We literally stayed there all day...	...and through some of the night.

Unfortunately, we had to leave—believe us, we offered to "babysit" the room at no cost—which meant going back to our crummy LED HDTV sitting at home. In fact, everything outside of the Goldmund Media Room will seem insufficient upon vacating the premises. It makes subpar viewing experiences look and sound outstanding—heck, we even enjoyed Pearl Harbor on it—and video games are just that much more realistic.

But, we can't see anyone, outside of corporations and celebrities, taking the plunge. For those who can't quite gather enough scratch for a similar system, they also offer beginner set-ups that start at $60,000. Still a ton of money, but if you've got it, then there's no better place to spend it enhancing your movie/gaming nights at home. Your children's college tuition be damned!