Borderlands 2 getting colourblind mode in upcoming update

Borderlands 2 will make itself more accessible to those with colour vision deficiencies in an upcoming update.

The as-yet undated patch will introduce modes for three kinds of colour vision deficiency, designed to make it easier for affected users to spot the difference between normal and rare loot drops, which are indicated in-game by coloured beams of light.

In addition to altering the colours, Gearbox could implement addition effects, but because modifying the particle effects on the light beams would be too difficult, the developer has instead elected to add a colour tag on the text popup on loot.

The update's release date will be announced in the near future, and will make three new colour modes available in the video settings menu.

Although those of us with the most common kinds of colour vision tend not to think about it, game interfaces often rely heavily on colour to convey information and can be a nightmare for those with rarer kinds of colour vision deficiency. In the full Inside the Box post about the update, Gearbox's Jeffrey “botman” Broome gives a detailed explanation of how three kinds of colour blindness work, and how Gearbox has implemented various colour schemes to counter each condition.

Broome also commented that there's a bug in the update which affecting protanopia mode, which will have to patched out in a subsequent update.

Borderlands 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.