Could Java replace C++ as game developer's language of choice?

For many, many years now, the one requirement of all game programmers has been that they are extensively trained in the ways of C++. In fact, C++ is probably the most dominant of programming languages around. If Sun Microsystems has anything to say about it, C++ will soon become a thing of the past.

Chris Melissinos, chief gaming officer for the house that Java built, sat down with Next Generation to discuss Java's progress and to combat its negative premonitions - namely, that it is too slow. Melissinos believes that Java has improved its speed and its support for 3D graphical environments, and that can hold its own against C++, with one vastly important difference - namely, that a program written in Java can be used on PC, Mac, or Linux without any sort of code rewriting. That is the key, according to Melissinos, to Java's future success.

In terms of actual coding, Java is strikingly similar to C++ - one could view the two as different as French and Spanish, each sharing some similarities in syntax while differentiating on a few fundamentals (handling multiple inheritance, for example). Any computer science gurus care to give their opinion on the future of Java in game development?