In a rare bit of literal irony, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition will let you play offline on the PlayStation 3, eschewing Sony's network DRM. The news was revealed at an Evo 2011 panel, but only recently reached the public at large as Capcom senior VP Christen Svensson answered lingering fan questions online.

"As Derek and I covered in the 3rd Strike panel at Evo, the game does not make use of Sony's network DRM," said Svensson. "It is playable offline. We deemed that very important for future tournament use."

The FAQs were compiled from a much longer Capcom Unity Q&A thread. Among them, Svensson said there are no plans for a PC release, and DLC plans are being held until after the game launches. The game will also support YouTube sharing via a title update, but that may miss the launch date.

The game will kick off Sony's first annual PSN Play promotion, which offers discounts for Plus members, extra content, and a free game for collecting all four. The reward for Street Fighter 3 is a free piece of day-one DLC that unlocks Gill without going through the trouble of finishing the game with all of the fighters. Pre-ordering also nets you a static theme, and the game will be 20% off ($12) if you have a PlayStation Plus membership.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition will be available on PSN on August 23, then on XBLA on August 24, for $14.99 or 1200 MSP, respectively.