Square Enix power player has issued the most direct denial yet of a Final Fantasy VII remake. Speaking with Japan's monthly Dorimaga gaming publication, character designer Tetsuya Nomura said, "It appears that there are often overseas rumors like 'Are you currently developing a VII remake?' My apologies, but we're absolutely not making [such a game]."

But, as usual, all isn't necessarily lost. Yoshinori Kitase, overall director of the FFVII series, followed up with, "However, when we ask the staff who are making FFXIII why they entered the company, there are many people who say, 'I'm an FFVII fan, I also want to do a remake.'" To this, Nomura added, "We of course know ourselves what the fans want so we'd like to continue thinking up a variety of things. As long as there are people who want to make it and people who are waiting for it, we don't want to proclaim 'the end.'"Outside of these comments, the two shared a few interesting insights into the development of what is arguably the most renown Final Fantasy game to date.Nomura recalled the creation of the game's plot, which was originally written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, now of Mistwalker. Nomura, who claims to still have a copy of the plot, noted how "completely different" it is from the final version. "I think he wanted to do something like a detective story? There was a character called Hot Blooded Detective Joe."The Midgar city was already in place at this point. The early part of the story that was written by Sakaguchi involved Detective Joe chasing after the main characters, who then blow up the city.Obviously, the story changed some once Nomura and Kitase got involved. While Nomura went off into the character design and visual work following some initial changes to Sakaguchi's plot, Kitase and Kazushige Nojima came up with the sections on Avalanche and Shinra, Cloud's background story, and the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth. Sakaguchi came up with the specifics on the Life Stream in his original plot, but this also saw some work by Kitase and crew before finally being placed in the game.With Nomura's strong denial in this interview, all those hoping for an FFVII remake to close off the series' 10th anniversary in style this year appear to be out of luck. Of course, there's no law against flat out lying to magazines that include pullout posters of big-busted anime chicks in every issue, so keep the candles lit.