Game presented by Firepower Entertainment and Noble Master Games.
Technically I am using passive rending and Swing for the game which suits the style of gameplay and makes UI more object oriented for me.
Game is scheduled for Q1 2010 
edit:
World Empires Live was released 5th January 2010.
Official site is http://www.worldempireslive.com
A little uipdate here 
We now accept applicants for beta testing. In only a few weeks beta testing of World Empires Live will begin so if you want your free account to try this Java game before it is out here is your chance
http://www.multiplayerhub.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3199
World Empires Live have now gone into official beta testing!
Beta forum: http://www.multiplayerhub.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3271
It is still not too late to sign up for beta testing, sign up -> http://www.multiplayerhub.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3199
Beta testers will be greatly rewarded with 5 months free subscription.
We just went public beta so anyone can DL and play today!
EDIT: Removed some links that are outdated.
World Empires Live release date set to Janaury 5th 2010, but you can DL and play the Demo while waiting. The full announcement here
http://www.multiplayerhub.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3290
so wait, is this by you, or a bunch of guys?
if it is a bunch of guys: NICE!
if it is by you: darn canno think of a word cool enough, maybe LEGENDARY will work lol.
really looks good and polished from the video
Actually, the game has mostly been programmed by Johan! Definitely LEGENDARY what he put together.
There is one graphics artist who created the graphics (Sergey), a music expert (James) and a game designer (Kurt) part of the team (freelancing). I wrote the match-making server plus payment system (PayPal), but the core part of the work definitely goes to Johan!
;D
LEGENDARY it is then
or as barney would say:
it is LEGEN… wait for it …DARY
Legendary, does that mean you wanna give this game a go
Looks like the game is ready to go any day now. I finished digging out about 50 SFX from libraries. The music done by James Stant is more than 10 short and long tunes!
Kurt Eichert is a great modder that I know from working on the Commander series and he is now a designer for World Empires Live.
All visual from the clips or screenshots are made by Sergey Churbanov. Christoph Aschwanden from Noblemaster.com does all the online technology. I could go on and on and talk about this project and how well all has been progressing, now I just hope players will enjoy this game
Congrats Johan. Looking forward to taking a look at this when I get time in my schedule.
Ok, World Empires Live was released 5th January so all further info from now on is available at the official site: http://www.worldempireslive.com
Wow, that is one hell of an accomplishment. The site looks very well polished and the game looks extremely well done. Congratulations!
When I get more time, I will have to take a full head first dive into this.
Thanks for the updates!
hmm, the screenshots make me think of civilizations :).
is htis coincidence?
Good to see finally another company making something of this Java thing I’ll try to pop up a blog post about the game at some point. Give me a poke if I forget.
Cas
Well, IIRC, both of Johan’s previous games (Commander: Europe and Commander: Napoleon something) were Java as well.
Yes
Commander Europe at War
Commander Napoleon at War
were programmed by me and all in Java. You get 1 day free trial when you register at our site and that is good news. Even better news is, we will have occasional campaigns a few times per year where all previously registered players get some bonus free days added to their accounts. Register today if you want to join the Party and play for free several times a year
The similarity to Civilization is because that is also a Grid/Board based Empire Building game. Today there are very few of those to choose between, especially if you are looking for a game suited for medium complexity medium pace multiplayer. Most other games are either fast RTS games with small complexity or slow complex Strategy games that are more suited for single player.
Well, next weekend you have a great chance of learning the game
This from our official forum:
"We celebrate our first month of World Empires Live by giving all registered players full game trial on January 29th-31st. If you have not yet registered do so for free by following this link
http://www.worldempireslive.com/register.html
This also gives you an additional instant 1 day full game trial which is always given out to new players. Join this and any upcoming parties, register today!"