Releases General FAQ v1.3

One of the features of Giant Bomb's game pages are releases. These contain details about each release of a particular game, including platform, release date, rating, among others.

Every time a game is released for a different platform, that counts as a release. Special/Limited/Collector's Editions of a game also count as releases.

Additionally, many games are re-released at some point in their life. Small, non-notable re-prints are not worthy of a separate release on Giant Bomb, but more notable re-releases are. These include Greatest Hits, PlayStation the Best, Player's Choice, and Platinum re-releases, as well as publisher-specific re-release series such as Atlus Best Collection, Konami the Best, EA Best Hits, EA:SY, etc.

This is the image that will represent the game in the list of releases. Usually this will be the game's box art. If you to not have access to the box art or the game is digitally distributed, you can also use the logo or some other placeholder.

Enter the name of the game here. If it's a special edition or some sort of re-release, append that information in parentheses after the name.

What system is the game available on? Enter that here. Note that console digital distribution systems have their own platform listings on Giant Bomb. This means that Xbox Live Arcade and Community Games should be listed as Xbox Live Marketplace, WiiWare and Virtual Console games should be listed as Wii Shop, and PSN games should be listed as PlayStation Network.

Here you select the region the game was released in. For the purpose of adding releases, "United States" refers to North America, and "United Kingdom" refers to Europe.

Here you enter the date that this game was released to the public in the selected region. If you do not know the exact date, you can enter an expected date (see below).

By selecting "add expected date", you can add a date that only contains some of the required information. This is useful for games set to be released in the future, or games released in the past that you don't know the exact date of.

The International Standard Book Number is a 10- or 13-digit code that uniquely identifies books. ISBN-10 is the 10-digit code that was used until 2007.
Unlike EANs and UPCs, video games rarely use ISBN codes. I had initially assumed ISBN-10 codes had been carried over from Comic Vine, but that does not seem to be the case, as Comic Vine does not have a release feature, or any feature that utilizes ISBNs. Perhaps it will forever remain a mystery.

This field is not defined very well. This field is where you enter the product ID assigned by the console manufacturer. You do not enter the name of the developer or publisher here.
Giant Bomb accepts product codes from both Sony and Nintendo.

A Sony product code can usually be found on the packaging or game disc for games on Sony's consoles. Each code consists of four letters, a hyphen, and then five numbers.

Some Greatest Hits titles have GH appended to the end of the code. If that's the case, then that should be included in the field.
Similarly, some games available in Canada have an F at the end of the code. All that means is that the game comes with French packaging / instructions. You should not include the F in the field.

Explanation:

Part	Meaning	More information
First character	Type of media S - CD/DVD (PlayStation/PlayStation 2) U - UMD (PSP) B - Blu-ray (PlayStation 3)	S is used on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games, regardless of format.
Second character	Licensing C - First party L - Third party	Some games are first-party in one region, and third-party in another.
Third character	Release region U - United States/North America E - Europe/Australia P/J - Japan K - Korea	J seems to be a PSP and PS3 exclusive.
Fourth character	Release type S - Retail release D - Demo	Demo discs are of no use to us
Five-digit number	???	Unique to each game per region.

Additional notes:
SCAJ and the like (with AJ as the third and fourth characters) seems to refer to a general Asian release. I'm unable to confirm.
M is commonly used as the fourth letter in Japnese/Asian releases. I'm not sure what it means.
TCPS, when used, seems to be one of two product codes associated with a game. I believe it might be used to refer to packages that contain more than just the game box.

These are the alphanumeric codes that have been used for Nintendo games since the days of the NES. You can find them on the packaging or the disk / cartridge, although the exact location varies from system to system.

Here you select the rating that was assigned to the game by one of five ratings bureaus. The rating is usually visible on the front of the box. If you are unsure of what rating the game was assigned you should be able check the official site.

BBFC search
CERO search
ESRB search
OFLC search
PEGI search

The British Board of Film Classification assigns legally enforceable ratings to film and video games in the United Kingdom.


Games will sometimes display both a BBFC and PEGI rating. In such a case, it is unclear how it should be classified on Giant Bomb.

The Computer Entertainment Rating Organization is the Japanese organization that rates video games. There are five ratings levels currently in use.

A (all ages) - roughly equivalent to the ESRB's E or E10+ rating, or PEGI's 3+ or 7+ ratings





B (12 and older) - low-end T, equivalient to PEGI's 12+




C (15 and older) - high-end T, low-end M, low-end 16+





D (17 and older) - roughly equivalent to the high end of the ESRB's M rating, the high end of PEGI's 16+ rating, or the low end of PEGI's 18+ rating




Z (18 and older only) - Similar to AO, and in some cases M; or the high end of PEGI's 18+
This rating is regulated and enforced by the government




These ratings replace the previous CERO ratings, which were in use prior to March 2006.
Although no longer used by CERO, they are still used on Giant Bomb when a game was originally assigned one of these ratings. Simply select it from the drop-down ratings box.

Of the five ratings systems provided, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is probably the best-known. It has been in use in North America since 1994.

*RP is only used in marketing materials for games that have yet to be rated. All games are rated prior to their retail release.

There are also ranged ratings, used on compilations that contain multiple games or game demos. These are displayed in the format E-T with the lowest rating first, and the highest rating lf one of the products has not yet been rated, RP will be displayed as the lowest rating (RP-T). In the case of such ranged ratings (The Orange Box for example, which is rated T-M), you should select the highest rating.

Pan European Game Information is the rating system used in most European countries, as well as Israel and South America. It first came into use in 2003. Unlike the BBFC ratings, they are not legally enforceable (except in some countries, as per local legislation).

Games will sometimes display both a BBFC and PEGI rating. In such a case, it is unclear how it should be classified on Giant Bomb.