It took a while, but it finally happened this evening at Mike's normal board game night.
To clarify, it was actually the newly released 4th edition, not the 3rd edition pictured above (which Mike actually owns but has yet to play).
It was a three-player game that was slightly shortened and played with a tremendous learning curve. Mike was playing as the Federation of Sol (aka the humans - coincidentally, the one race he was most looking forward to playing as) and finished tied for first with 8 victory points.
Twilight Imperium is a very long game, but its gameplay justifies the length. It is very complex with a lot going on.
