How to change the colour of the PlayStation Move Remote Orb

If you're looking for a way to change the colour of your PlayStation Move remote ball you could be in for a disappointment. Sony did not design the colour changing orb to satisfy a gamer's whim to swing some bright pink balls around the room.

PlayStation Move Ball Colour is Purely Functional

The reasons for having a colour changing orb are purely functional. It is the PlayStation Eye's job to track the movement of the orb as you move the controller. If your walls were pure black for example, the orb would glow pure white. If your walls were also white, the Eye would have a very hard time trying to track controller movement.

To address this contrast issue Sony has designed an orb that contains three (RGB) light emitting diodes that mix their light together to produce (ironically) 360 different colours. The PlayStation Move system will dynamically choose a colour for the orb that is a high contrast to your walls or whatever else is behind you. Ideally this colour will be the exact opposite of the background colour.

A Possible Workaround

If you're still dead set on having a particular colour ball, what you must do is to find out what the exact colour opposite is and paint your walls in that colour. If you're serious about this you can use an opposite colour tool to work this out.

Some would argue that this is a step too far, especially when you discover you need to paint your walls bright yellow to get that pure blue orb you were after. It could also be the case the Move will settle for a colour that is of a 'high enough' contrast rather than the exact opposite. For those reasons we have not tested the theory. Please do not contact us if you have wasted time and money painting your living room bright yellow.

Multi-player / Dual Controller Games

Multi-player and dual controller games also pose a challenge for the PlayStation Eye. When tracking two controllers there is a requirement for two different colours and both of these colours must contrast the background colour enough to be trackable.