Is something like this possible with Java?
I’m not questioning the language or anything (I’m a Java fan who develops java games), just wondering if we have the tools to do that kind of stuff
Sure it is. All you need are 20+ developers enough budget and a couple of years time 
Theres nothing spectacular there, some bloom (which they lie about being 64bit. Its just FP16 texture, so each component is 16 bits making 1 pixel being 64bit in RGBA format), normal mapping in tangent space and the motion blur effect that was developed by Nvidia that extends the shape in vertex shaders and blurs in fragment shaders…
I have personally implemented all of the above shaders. I just dont have any artistic ability to show off anything :
DP
Yeah, but theres a difference in programming shader effects and making an engine that can be used to create actual games in. You need a lot of management code, lod technics, modelling tool integration, level editors, composition tools etc.
If you want to create additionally create such a game, you also need a publisher contracts, artists, story writers, sales men, licence budget, commercial art budget, a patent lawyer etc.
We already have all tools we need to develop a engine like that (eclipse, netbeans… ;D ). All additional tools will be part of your project and must be developed (level designer, model exporter/importer…).
For a startup you need just one thing: motivation
here is an example of an “one man show”: http://www.fl-tw.com/Infinity/index.php
I agree with darkprophet. You can build a next gen engine but without an good artist it will look like the reinvention of QuakeII ;D
Yes, you too can fake games ;). To quote IGN: “Absolutely amazing movies and screenshots…It really does look incredible” – ign.com
I saw all this at GDC last year. But … strangely enough, we’re booking flights for GDC again this year, and yet nothing has changed. Where’s the game, hmm?
* blahblahblahh is only cynical because several companies have pulled this trick before; I wont be interested until I see it in game.
Remember that even the PS3 “in-game” footage turned out to be faked renders only a year or so ago. That’s how much BS flows these days :(.
And that’s why I don’t really like game trailers and prefer gameplay movies. You don’t always know if what you see in trailers is actual gameplay.