This post won't go live until later today, but as we write this, we've just gotten back from the PlayStation 3 midnight launch at the Sony Style store on New York City's Madison Avenue. We went to a similar event for the PlayStation Portable in March 2005, and it was well-attended, but last night's event was a whole 'nother level of insanity. Hundreds of dedicated gamers--and a not insignificant number of profiteers--had been standing in line since Tuesday for the opportunity to get their mitts on a PS3; first in unseasonably balmy weather, then, tonight, in a torrential downpour.

Before the cash registers started ringing, however, we were fortunate enough to be whisked into the Sony Style's plush VIP showroom for a little face time with Sony chairman and CEO Howard Stringer and Sony Computer Entertainment America president Kaz Hirai. Gracious and self-deprecating as always, Stringer nodded sagely at our suggestion that the collaboration between Sony Online Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment on the PlayStation Network and the PlayStation Store was an example of his "Sony United" mantra in action. We'd also meant to ask Sir Howard when he was going to whip the oft-criticized Connect digital store into shape, but amidst a flurry of distractions--the open bar, the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider spokesmodel, and the sight of celebs like Busta Rhymes and Doug E. Fresh walking out with armfuls of PS3s (paid for, not gratis)--we missed our opportunity.

Hirai, meanwhile, was excited about the crowds milling outside the Sony Style store and across the country. But he cautioned that the hard work was just beginning, insisting that he and his employees shouldn't mistake last night's support for tomorrow's success. Fortunately for both Stringer and Hirai, the above video shows that if for some strange reason this whole running-a-company thing doesn't work out for them, they've both got a future in retail.