diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index baab1d7..7d7fc25 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ var Pivotal = function (token) {
 */
 Pivotal.debug = false;
 
+/*
+   Defaults to version 3 of the PivotalTracker API, 
+   but can be changed to support newer versions of the API such as version 5
+*/
+Pivotal.apiVersion = 3;
+
 
 /**
     ### pivotal.getToken : retrieve a user's token
@@ -736,7 +742,7 @@ Pivotal.apiCall = function (method, pathSegments, query, data, file, cb, token)
     }
 
     // Build Request URL
-    var path        =  "/services/v3/" + pathSegments.join("/"),
+    var path        =  "/services/v" + Pivotal.apiVersion + "/" + pathSegments.join("/"),
         postData     = null,
         options     = null,
         req         = null,
@@ -807,7 +813,7 @@ Pivotal.apiCall = function (method, pathSegments, query, data, file, cb, token)
             content += chunk;
         });
 
-        res.on('end', function(){
+        res.on('end', function () {
 
             if (this.statusCode !== 200) {
                 return cb({code: this.statusCode, desc: "API returned an HTTP error"}, null);
@@ -817,34 +823,39 @@ Pivotal.apiCall = function (method, pathSegments, query, data, file, cb, token)
                 return cb(null, null);
             }
 
-            parser.parseString(content, function (err, ret) {
-
-                Pivotal.log("info", "Result:", content);
-
-                if (err) {
-
-                    Pivotal.log("error", "Result:", content);
-
-                    err = {
-                        "errors" : {
-                            "error" : [ "Error while parsing PT HTTP service response", err ]
-                        }
-                    };
-                }
-
-                if (ret && ret.errors) {
-                    err = ret;
-                    ret = null;
-                }
-
-                //
-                // We do this so that any error generated by the callback function
-                // will not bubble up and trigger the on('error') of the parser.
-                //
-                process.nextTick(function () {
-                    cb(err, ret);
+            Pivotal.log("info", "Result:", content);
+
+            try {
+                var jsonContent = JSON.parse(content);
+                cb(null, jsonContent);
+            } catch (e) {
+                parser.parseString(content, function (err, ret) {
+
+                    if (err) {
+
+                        Pivotal.log("error", "Result:", content);
+
+                        err = {
+                            "errors": {
+                                "error": [ "Error while parsing PT HTTP service response", err ]
+                            }
+                        };
+                    }
+
+                    if (ret && ret.errors) {
+                        err = ret;
+                        ret = null;
+                    }
+
+                    //
+                    // We do this so that any error generated by the callback function
+                    // will not bubble up and trigger the on('error') of the parser.
+                    //
+                    process.nextTick(function () {
+                        cb(err, ret);
+                    });
                 });
-            });
+            }
         });
     });