In an interview with Japanese publication Dengeki PS producer Yoshinori Kitase and character designer Tetsuya Nomura talked about their plans for the new year. Just in time for the introduction of the next generation of hardware, Kitase felt he had to make an action-oriented game. The result of this idea was the upcoming PlayStation 2 gun action RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. Regarding the hot topic of a Final Fantasy VII remake, Kitase felt it could have been done, provided the company had only released two Compilation of Final Fantasy VII games and managed to match timing and schedule. The creation of the PlayStation 3-based opening sequence demo alone took 2-3 months, hence remaking the entire game would take a considerable amount of time.

As far as his upcoming schedule is concerned, Kitase confirmed his team will begin working on next generation games, but the hardware platform(s) had yet to be decided. However at the same time he confirmed that he will work on the previously announced PlayStation 3 installment of the Final Fantasy series. No concrete plans have been made so far, as he was just beginning to understand what could be done with the next-generation consoles. Since the quality of the games will increase, development cycles will inevitably become longer as well.

Tetsuya Nomura for his part explained that once the development of Kingdom Hearts II was completed, he would move on to a new project. He ruled out that this new project would be a remake of Final Fantasy VII, and simply put he would not work on a remake or sequel. The success of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the possibility to display the world of Final Fantasy VII with today's technology, gave him a boost of confidence.

The duo also had a lot to say about Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The scenario part of Square Enix's first PlayStation Portable game is pretty much complete, even though development has not reached the stage where the company would be in a position to disclose any content. As the trailer that shipped with the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children already suggested Crisis Core will focus on the story of Cloud's old buddy Zack. According to Nomura, development on the project is progressing without any major problems. However since many staffers are involved in other projects, the development team has not been able to begin working on Crisis Core in full force. The plot however has already been completed. Nomura also confirmed that objects were already moving in-game and currently research was done to figure out battle control schemes, etc. Originally Crisis Core was planned to be less complex than console-based games, but as development progressed, it has moved closer to a console-based game in terms of gameplay.

Square Enix plans a major announcement for next year's Electronic Entertainment Expo which will include Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Last but not least, Nomura admitted that he is spending a lot of time thinking about how to conclude the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

• Dengeki PS