Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

43 Comments

Giant Bomb API Now Available

Develop your own applications that pull things out of the Giant Bomb database with our handy framework.

No Caption Provided
Have you ever wanted to sink your hooks into a gaming database full of release dates, artwork, games, platforms, and other sorts of related data? I'm going to guess that, for the bulk of you, the answer's probably no.

But if you're out there wondering what to do next with your developer-savvy smarts, you've got another big source to pull data from. The Giant Bomb API is now available for non-commercial use.

What does this mean? It means you can write an application (say, for your iPhone or something) that has full access to our data. Then you could take that data and mash it against a database of local game retailers or something? Or maybe you want to mash our character data against Comic Vine's character data for a huge list of cross-media dudes? Or maybe you want to pull a list of game credits for a set of fan shrines for your favorite developers? OK, those aren't all great idea. But that's part of why we're opening this stuff up to everyone. We're sure that some of you probably have some pretty great ideas, but lack the database required to get going.

Bang. Zap. Pow. Now you've got a database.

The key things to know are that we're offering this data in XML and JSON formats. And it doesn't offer any data specific to our userbase--your privacy as a user of this site is still completely intact. And if you're planning on using it for commercial purposes, you really need to get in touch with us beforehand.

For more information, the full terms of use, and to get your API key, check out api.giantbomb.com. If you're working with our API and are looking for some community support, check out our board for devs.

(And if none of this made any sense to you at all, feel free to go about your business and forget we ever said anything.)
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

43 Comments

Avatar image for jeff
jeff

6357

Forum Posts

107208

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 20

Edited By jeff
No Caption Provided
Have you ever wanted to sink your hooks into a gaming database full of release dates, artwork, games, platforms, and other sorts of related data? I'm going to guess that, for the bulk of you, the answer's probably no.

But if you're out there wondering what to do next with your developer-savvy smarts, you've got another big source to pull data from. The Giant Bomb API is now available for non-commercial use.

What does this mean? It means you can write an application (say, for your iPhone or something) that has full access to our data. Then you could take that data and mash it against a database of local game retailers or something? Or maybe you want to mash our character data against Comic Vine's character data for a huge list of cross-media dudes? Or maybe you want to pull a list of game credits for a set of fan shrines for your favorite developers? OK, those aren't all great idea. But that's part of why we're opening this stuff up to everyone. We're sure that some of you probably have some pretty great ideas, but lack the database required to get going.

Bang. Zap. Pow. Now you've got a database.

The key things to know are that we're offering this data in XML and JSON formats. And it doesn't offer any data specific to our userbase--your privacy as a user of this site is still completely intact. And if you're planning on using it for commercial purposes, you really need to get in touch with us beforehand.

For more information, the full terms of use, and to get your API key, check out api.giantbomb.com. If you're working with our API and are looking for some community support, check out our board for devs.

(And if none of this made any sense to you at all, feel free to go about your business and forget we ever said anything.)
Avatar image for andrewjd
AndrewJD

1596

Forum Posts

5612

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

Edited By AndrewJD

*Performs hand passing over head motion*

Avatar image for deactivated-5884be30433ec
deactivated-5884be30433ec

1061

Forum Posts

2007

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Anyone know how to use this? I tried but dont know what I am doing.

Avatar image for infneon
Infneon

12

Forum Posts

264

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Infneon

iPhone/iPod Touch app to access the database easily would make me love you long time

Avatar image for xionpunk
xionpunk

390

Forum Posts

361

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

Edited By xionpunk

mmmm... whiskey

Avatar image for kintaro
Kintaro

129

Forum Posts

45

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Edited By Kintaro

Wow, I wish I had an idea to use the database with right now.

Avatar image for sephiroth9997
Sephiroth9997

266

Forum Posts

12

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Sephiroth9997

wat?

Avatar image for johndudebro
JohnDudebro

956

Forum Posts

3908

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By JohnDudebro

I know the iPhone app is inevitable, but somebody should get on an Android app as well. Might as well cover our bases.

Avatar image for jediautobot
jediautobot

260

Forum Posts

1605

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By jediautobot

Can't wait to see what people come up with.

Avatar image for wrecks
wrecks

2685

Forum Posts

1152

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

Edited By wrecks

groovy!

Avatar image for lordandrew
LordAndrew

14609

Forum Posts

98305

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 36

Edited By LordAndrew

I'm gonna make eight iPhone apps and there ain't nothing you can do about it!

Avatar image for citizenkane
citizenkane

10894

Forum Posts

29122

Wiki Points

2066

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 106

Edited By citizenkane

Awesome!  Now, if I only knew XML...

Avatar image for wardrox
wardrox

6

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By wardrox

Well that's just all kinds of groovy. I'll get cracking on a Wordpress plug-in shall I?

Avatar image for sparky_buzzsaw
sparky_buzzsaw

9909

Forum Posts

3772

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 39

User Lists: 42

Edited By sparky_buzzsaw

Very cool!  I might tinker with this and use it to enhance my own game tracking.

Avatar image for driadon
Driadon

3265

Forum Posts

763

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 14

Edited By Driadon

...So Facebook app coming soon?

Avatar image for dtran1212
dtran1212

301

Forum Posts

13

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By dtran1212

i dreamed that one day GB would provide me with API for my iPhone, THANK YOU GOD!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN FINALLY DIE HAPPY!!

Avatar image for duffy
Duffy

139

Forum Posts

4248

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

Edited By Duffy

It's an application programmer interface, I used one last year for java. It shows you all the methods/functions, classes and libraries you can use in a certain language. Or I suppose in this case Giant Bomb's data base. I'm not sure how one would work in this case I've only ever used the java one. I'd love to give it ago though.

Avatar image for digital_sin
digital_sin

1896

Forum Posts

5480

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By digital_sin

YAY for API! I'm swamped at work right now, but I'll defiantly check it out and see what I can do.

Avatar image for lamegame621
lamegame621

1000

Forum Posts

664

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By lamegame621

does'nt make sense to me...moving along...

Avatar image for deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f
deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f

2527

Forum Posts

4764

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

So I assume this is useless to people who don't have iphones...

Avatar image for ferg
Ferg

3

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Ferg

If there's a desire for it, I'd be willing to build an Android application to fetch reviews and such.

Avatar image for joeltgm
JoelTGM

5784

Forum Posts

1760

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 1

Edited By JoelTGM

I don't have any idea what you just said.

Avatar image for pkshields
Pkshields

827

Forum Posts

113

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 8

Edited By Pkshields

Please make an iPhone app someone, I would be forever grateful to whoever created it.

Avatar image for klinkcow
klinkcow

291

Forum Posts

191

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

Edited By klinkcow

This is the best comment section on any post... ever.

Avatar image for rhcpfan24
RHCPfan24

8663

Forum Posts

22301

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 16

User Lists: 8

Edited By RHCPfan24

Well, someone make an iPhone app. I don't know how to make this stuff, but I do have an iPhone, and it would love to get a dose of Giant Bomb sometime soon.

Avatar image for player1
Player1

4180

Forum Posts

6263

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By Player1

Cool would like to see some cool iPhone apps in the future. Facebook ones would be nice as well.

Avatar image for ocdog45
ocdog45

712

Forum Posts

125

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By ocdog45

SOMEBODY MAKE AN IPHONE APPLICATION! 

Avatar image for momar
Momar

13

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Momar

Been waiting for this. Thank the GiantBombgods!

Avatar image for chw
chw

116

Forum Posts

14

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Edited By chw

Super!  Now where's the Giant Bomb Firefox search?

Avatar image for media_master
Media_Master

3259

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Media_Master

Interesting

Avatar image for jjor64
JJOR64

19700

Forum Posts

417

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 5

Edited By JJOR64

NOW I CAN BUILD AN APE THAT MAKES GIANTBOMB PINK!    MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!           lol j/k

Avatar image for rowr
Rowr

5861

Forum Posts

249

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rowr

cant wait to see the awesome stuff that comes of this.

Avatar image for lordandrew
LordAndrew

14609

Forum Posts

98305

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 36

Edited By LordAndrew

The API is still in its infancy. No filtering yet, so you'd have to build that into your application for now if you want to do that.

Avatar image for snail
Snail

8908

Forum Posts

16390

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Edited By Snail

This made no sense... I'll go about my business. I say chaps, awful cold innit?

Avatar image for theadmin
TheAdmin

1062

Forum Posts

6686

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 8

Edited By TheAdmin

I don't suppose a user API is coming any time soon?  (with xml data of your activity or blog posts or whatever)

Avatar image for spiritof
Spiritof

2471

Forum Posts

28754

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 25

User Lists: 27

Edited By Spiritof

Finally my dream of an Internet Movie Database will become a R E A L I T Y !

Avatar image for thefiretemple
thefiretemple

11

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By thefiretemple

This is an area of nerd-dom that I haven't ventured into before, and hence, I will continue to mind my own business.

Avatar image for thecoffeemug
thecoffeemug

14

Forum Posts

5113

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Edited By thecoffeemug

I'd like to see a facebook app for user info, ranks and points and what not, but I don't think this would be used for that.

Avatar image for alexdp
AlexDP

9

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By AlexDP

Wow! This is almost perfect timing! I've been looking for some site to pull released dates and updates from recently for a game tracking application I've been working on. I plan to make it so that it gives you little popup like Windows Live Messenger (aka MSN) or Outlook with game updates for your favorite game, as well as reminders about release dates. Most of its already in place, just been looking for a good data source for it. XML and JSON, perfect! Thanks Jeff and the rest of the Giant Bomb team!

Avatar image for jensonb
Jensonb

2092

Forum Posts

3407

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 8

Edited By Jensonb

Sooo...

Anyone made an app yet?

Avatar image for whight_knight
Whight_Knight

708

Forum Posts

55

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By Whight_Knight

How do I use this and what do I need?

Avatar image for evlo
evlo

2

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By evlo

Simply AWESOME!

Avatar image for plextor30aa
plextor30aa

2

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By plextor30aa

Can someone please explain to me how to use the API? I'm just not understanding the information from the documentation. I need a deeper explanation. I'm not asking for anyone to explain everything, but just explain the basics of what I would have to do to take this information:

- Name of game

- Year

- Platform

- Genre

- Rating

- And how to use images with each game

I'm new to XML and programming period, but really would like to know how to do it. Plus, a lot of the documentations are of a different language. Meaning, I just don't understand.

If anyone wants to know the reason I want the information: I'm trying to create a basic video game projectwhere you can type in the name of any game and you get its information (see above for list).

- Plex