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I believe that it is possible for Java3D implementations to be (partial) wrappers around hardware-based OpenGL/DirectX functionality.

Well, there are several projects available which make OpenGL available for Java programmers.
Lightweight Java Game Library
Open GL for Java
Don't think the second one is still being developed, but I think Sun is working on something more up to date.

Although I could only find this in regards to Java in the game, you'd be surprised how fast graphics can be in Java if you use the right graphics library. One which I have looked at is OpenGL for Java. It is essentially a Java language wrapper around the native OpenGL libraries. Given that more and more of graphics processing is done by the video card, then the graphics part of Java in this instance, would be as fast as your graphics card.

OpenGL.

I've never used this, but I've heard about it for a while now.

GL4Java lets you use OpenGL from Java. It's LGPLed. There's an entry for "How does GL4Java compare to Java3D?" in the FAQ.

You won't ever see a game written in Java, not because Java is slow, but because you can't use Direct X with it(or whatever platform specific lib you want).

OpenGL is the industry standard, and I just downloaded the Java bindings for it about a week ago. It relies on JNI, so there is some platform-dependant code, but so far, I like what I see.

you can get it at www.jausoft.com/gl4java/; LGPLed, to boot.

It works on Linux, Sun, and Win32, and it hauls ass to boot! Quake3 in Java? It's definitely possible!.

Check out gl4java. It is the graphics API used in Arkanae (linked in first post). It doesn't require , swing, or Java3D - just a 1.1 level VM. Not many commercial games use any GUI other than custom programmed 2D or 3D graphics.

In fact, gcj is ideal since gl4java could be ported to use CNI instead of JNI, which would gain efficiency. The same could be done for OpenAL and SDL bindings, which would be straightforward.

In fact, gcc, or more correctly gjc, only supports java 1.0.

Actually 1.1. On the gcj issue, I thought that was deprecated in the same way g++ was...but no big deal.

These being the facts, it is very unlikly that you will be able to do a game using java and gcc.

I don't think the word "facts" means what you think it means. ;-)

As for the VM, even with jit technologies Java is still no where near fast enough to do any modern style of game.

And you base this on what evidence? Arkanae would seem to be an existence proof that works against you. JDK 1.4 should improve things much more, mainly through the DirectBuffer mechanism.

Now dont get em wrong, java is a good choice for server side apps, its just not there yet for the client side.

It is there to the extent that if I were starting a game project today, I would definitely go with Java. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, IMNSHO.

299,792,458 m/s...not just a good idea, its the law!