Warm-up UEWV5ELV24 - this is a totally non-pornographic code. Experiment with xlate and see for yourself.
Hint it is really fast and simple, just open the page and try decoding with the various methods. You will recognize when you see it (not necessarily in the box you are expecting)

Warmup solution

It was really nothing: open xlate, start putting the data into the various fields and pushing decode. When trying with BASE32, it decodes to oS1ekXXX in the BASE64 box. XXX is porn, but this code is non-pornographic, so oS1ek remains, which is the Lost Planet 3 of the warmup train.


Main: +2189623809685983033395820256967 - this has nothing to do with xlate, so see description below.

Story There was a Morse-code puzzle a few weeks ago, which is a kind of variable-width code. However, besides dots and dashes, Morse-code heavily relies on the pauses, otherwise it becomes hard to interpret: .....-.-.-..----..-.-..-..--..-..- (no worries, this is just the code for "hard to interpret" without any breaks). Fixed-width encodings (like 2-digit hexadecimal or 8-digit binary representation of ASCII codes, both often appearing in puzzles) obviously do not have this problem, exactly because of their fixed length per codeword.

Puzzle There are variable-width encodings, which allow unambiguous decoding even without spaces. Depending on where you live, you may have to use one of them every time when you xyz. Where xyz is a quite common activity, people may do it several times a day, some may even seem doing it all the time.

Here is the code again: +2189623809685983033395820256967
It encodes a giveaway code in 12 letters (there is a number inside, simply written out, and upper/lowercase is denoted by U-s and L-s).

A bit more than a week. Games: some parts of a Capcom bundle, an obvious fake AAA giveaway, and one of the biggest AAA flops from this year, deluxe edition.

Hints

(Clarification hint: when you xyz in real life, you use a single code at a time)

Obscure pre-hint: this is not a Huffmann code, do not read too much about it...
Second part of obscure pre-hint: not much = read the first sentence only (English Wikipedia).
Third part of obscure hint: follow the links, and look for a short list in one of them. Keep the + in mind.

In short: this is a common type of prefix code, and definitely not a Huffmann code.

Revealing hint: the plus sign added (in front of the sequence)

Medium hint in my bump-chain.

When teachers wanted us to learn a lot of numbers (history lessons typically), we summarized the task as "learning the phonebook". Why would I write it here? I do not know.

Main solution

The puzzle was built around dialing prefix codes. While they have somewhat varied lenght (like +1 for North America, +36 for Hungary or +356 for Malta), they never start with each other. So they can be told apart without putting breaks into the sequence.
I used http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes, English names of the countries. The simplest way to look up was keeping a + in front of the numbers as you were typing into a find box.

Code Country Short Solution
218 Libya LY lower-case
962 Jordan JO j
380 Ukraine UA upper-case
968 Oman OM O
598 Uruguay UY upper-case
30 Greece GR G
33 France FR five
39 Italy IT five
58 Venezuela VE five
20 Egypt EG five
256 Uganda UG upper-case
967 Yemen YE Y

jOG5Y is the giveaway code for the Lost Planet 3 of the main train.
The description explicitly said that there were 12 letters, so if someone found the 2-letter ISO country codes (24 "letters" in total), that should not cause too much problems either.


Warmup stats*

Game P Entries
Lost Planet 3 25 5
Resident Evil 5 20 10
Deponia 20 3 :-(

Pony stats*

Game P Entries
Lost Planet 3 25 8
Resident Evil Revelations 2 6 8
Resident Evil Revelations 30 15
Strider 15 7
Bionic Commando: Rearmed 10 5
DmC: Devil May Cry 30 14
Call of Duty: Black Ops 40 19
Evolve Digital Deluxe 50 13

* Data was updated in 8-12 hour periods for the last 3 days. It shows the final entry statistics now.

8 years ago*

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?

View Results
Done the warm-up
Done the main
Done both
Won't
Can't
Did not vote, LELELE!

Reserved for purposes

8 years ago
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For example bumping is such purpose

8 years ago
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Bump

8 years ago
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Bangladesh

8 years ago
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Uruguay

8 years ago
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Madagascar

8 years ago
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Portugal

8 years ago
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^ Can you see the bump above? ^

8 years ago
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+880598261351, one could say.

8 years ago
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a bump

8 years ago
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A second bump

8 years ago
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I only just started reading about Huffmann code...

8 years ago
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Not much = read the first sentence only (English Wikipedia). Real hint later.

8 years ago
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Lol. That helped a lot!

8 years ago
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Solved with a little nudge :)

8 years ago
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Bump for solved

8 years ago
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Warmup bump

8 years ago
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Bump for solved.

8 years ago
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Oh, I have almost written here "There are 31 digits, they are decimal. Encoding 24 letters inside is just too much.", but apparently I will not write that.

8 years ago
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Apparently I will not bump.

8 years ago
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Bump for confusion. Btw.. I thought xyz was "examining your zipper" haha

8 years ago*
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I just saw your puzzle and I wanted to say that I'm thankful. I am thankful that I didn't choose to become a programmer, but chose to become a food technologist instead. :D Phew! And I was always unsure if I should have chosen to become a programmer, but you obviously showed me here that I made the right decision. Thank you and bump! :D

8 years ago
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Hi, I just use your message for bumping the thread again.
At the same time I assure you this puzzle has nothing to do with programming, the original xyz activity predates computers...

8 years ago
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Well, it looked like programming language. :P Anyway, I solved it already. ;P Thanks again.

8 years ago
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Bump for solved.. thanks for the awesome puzzle and giveaway

8 years ago
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Bump for solved little owl's puzzle ^^

8 years ago
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This was fun! Bump for solved :)

8 years ago
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Nice one dude, didn't have any idea before the hints were added :D
Also thanks for the giveaways

8 years ago
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Bump for solved :D

8 years ago
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Bump for simplified hints.

8 years ago
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Bump for solved! Nice puzzle.

8 years ago
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Bit less than 2 days left.

8 years ago
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Have a "my brain hurts" bump

8 years ago
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Bump4solved!

8 years ago
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I forgot to do something for solved.
Bump!

8 years ago
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Approximately one day remains.

8 years ago
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Bump for solved!

8 years ago
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Bump for warmup done.

8 years ago
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And bump for solved.

8 years ago
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Just realized that i didn't bump :s Better later then naver so BUUUUUUMP!

8 years ago
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Bump for getting warmed up :)

8 years ago
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And half hour later - done :)

8 years ago
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