I'll be honest, in the many years I've had my PlayStation 3, I've only ever jumped into PlayStation Home twice. It's not that I don't think it's a cool service to offer players for the low price of free; it's just that I don't think Home's found a particularly good way to engage people like me, who use their PS3s primarily to play the serious first-party exclusive titles. 

But that could change – at least for short periods of time – with the promotional strategy Sony's calling Total Game Integration. It's rolling out January 27, 2010 and will be availble through February 17 for Killzone 3, but I was told that it's something we can expect to see with future titles as well. 

Total Game Integration is really just a set of buzz words, but here's what it means for you. PlayStation Home will be altered for upcoming Sony games, and with Killzone 3 it's pretty dramatic. The PlayStation Home Plaza has been completely redone, keeping its standard functionality but aesthetically looking like a battlefield from Killzone. The buildings are crumbling, Helghast drop ships fly overhead, and various Killzone imagery is everywhere. It's advertising, sure, but it's advertising done in a really clever way to an audience that might not otherwise care or hear about Killzone 3.

A fresh layer of paint alone isn't enough to get me to stick around in Home for more than a minute, but the way they're attempting to engage hardcore players might. With the Killzone 3 promotion, players will be able to venture into a new zone in the Central Plaza where they'll be able to play a free mini-game called Killzone Defender. It's a really simple shooter where you stand still and use the analog stick to aim at the Helghast who pop up. 

Killzone Defender is more a charming gimmick than engaging game, but the reason I could see the more hardcore among us jumping into Home to try it is for the benefits. Complete all the challenges in Killzone Defender and you'll get three multiplayer unlock points to use when Killzone 3 comes out (they buy abilities or weapons). You can only do it once, though, so don't think you're going to game the system. Additionally, if you want to pre-order Killzone 3, you can do so straight from Home. This sets you not only the extra three multiplayer points that Amazon offers promotionally but also an exclusive PlayStation Home Helghast avatar outfit. 

I appreciate what Sony's trying to do with Home and its Total Game Integration move, but I'm skeptical about how successful it will be at drawing in a new audience to the service for the long haul. I think I'll jump in whenever Sony manages to redo Home in clever ways, but I don't see this changing my opinion about Home overall. Still, it's a damn clever way to get people who would otherwise ignore the service to give it a try as well as get the word out about Killzone 3 to people who might never have heard of it. Smart move, Sony.