Here at Kotaku, we like to ask the tough questions. But sometimes we also like to ask an absurd one.
Or maybe it isn't absurd to ask the producer of EA Sports Active 2.0 why the peripherals for a PlayStation 3 game are white. Because, you know, the PS3 is black.
Taarnie Williams, executive producer, understood that I wasn't joking when I asked him this question last week at an EA Sports Event. he was the last man in the room to not take someone seriously, given that he was well dressed in pants and a button-down shirt, over which ensemble he was wearing EA Sports Active 2.0 motion and heart-rate sensors — one strapped to each arm and one strapped to his leg.
I'd like to think Williams said "good question," but that is not indicated in my notes.
Instead, he said that EA actually made white and black versions of the sensors for Active 2.0. They then deliberated. Used focus groups even (okay, he consented, "internal" focus groups).
And they decided that black peripherals "looked heavy." Presumably, the target audience for this workout game wouldn't want something that looked heavy or color-match with their consoles.
So the EA Sports Active 2.0 peripherals for the PS3 will be white. It has been decided.
The sensors on this sequel to last year's hit Wii workout game will detect motion in the arms and legs. The Wii version will include one less sensor, relying on the Wii Remote to take its place.
EA Sports Active 2.0, with sensors, will ship for the Wii and PS3 this fall. (Not a typo, no Xbox 360 version — though when I asked if there would be a Natal iteration for Xbox 360, he held fast on only talking about what's EA has officially revealed.)