To the disappointment of fans, developer Harmonix has confirmed that the Band World Tour campaign mode in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of the company's upcoming music game Rock Band will not be enabled for online play.

"Band World Tour, and consequently the endless setlist, doesn't have an online mode," wrote Harmonix community manager Sean Baptiste on the official Rock Band forums.

One of the most exciting features of Harmonix's upcoming Guitar Hero follow-up, the Band World Tour mode allows up to four players to form a band, play gigs in over 40 different venues across the world, and complete challenges to earn in-game cash.

"It was something we really wanted in there but the time to do it, and do it right taking into account all sorts of mostly unforeseen but very important things, was seriously prohibitive," continued Baptiste.

Online play via the game's competitive and quickplay modes will still be included. Despite the news, Baptiste assured fans that Harmonix is still very interested in realizing the online campaign in the future.

"It is something we are totally working for in the future as not only do you want to play it but so do we (more than you know)," added Baptiste.

Whether World Tour online play might be implemented via a patch, or is simply a feature that has been pushed back to a potential Rock Band sequel, Baptiste did not know.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Rock Band hit retailers November 23, selling in a $169.99 bundle that includes a guitar, microphone, and drum kit. The PlayStation 2 iteration and its respective bundle are slated to hit December 10 at $159.99. Rumors indicate that separately available instruments and a non-bundled edition of the game may not arrive until 2008.