E3 2020 never took place, but it sort of did, and it sort of ended this week. Microsoft held its Xbox Games Showcase on Thursday; Geoff Keighley is planning more of a Summer Game Fest, but at this point we're entering Gamescom territory. Goodbye, E3, which never took place; hello, other conventions held digitally.

Here's the big news from the very protracted final week of non-E3:

Avowed is Obsidian's new Skyrim-like RPG, check out the first trailer

We don't know much about it but Obsidian's new game is Exciting. We're calling it "Skyrim-like" because of its first-person perspective and the fact that it appears to span the same vast expanse of land that the Pillars of Eternity games are set in.

Minecraft players may have found the title screen world

Minecraft 1.8 beta adds a blurry background image to the title screen. It depicts a nice lake in the Minecraft world, which we had not really thought much about. However, some players thought better of it and made it their mission to find the sequence of numbers that form that world. Basically, it's a digital version of finding a hill that looks exactly like Windows XP wallpaper in real life, except now you can generate iconic scenes forever.

"Star Wars: Squadrons" hands-on: the flight sim you've been waiting for

Wes had the opportunity to play and shoot a video of EA's upcoming "Star Wars" game. His impressions can be found at the link above and the video at the link below.

Thoughts on Halo Infinite's reveal

At Microsoft's non-E3 event, the campaign gameplay of Halo Infinite, due out later this year, was shown for the first time. We had mixed reactions. On some screens and stills, some of the textures looked a bit mussed, but Microsoft said it was still a "work in progress," even with the holiday season looming. In terms of play, it looks like classic Halo, but with more space. [Ubisoft's management and corporate culture have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, with multiple resignations and apology statements issued amid various allegations. Newly reported this week are claims that former Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoe was one of those who resigned and, along with others, repeatedly intervened to reduce the importance of female protagonists in the "Assassin's Creed" series.

Gabe Newell has been a "COVID refugee" in New Zealand since March

He has been giving free concerts as a thank you to the country.