There are currently methods to which you must pass a color created specifically with cc.c4f or cc.c4b or cc.c3b or they won’t work, but it would make more sense if you could use any constructor you find more comftible for creating a color instead of having to constrain yourself arbitrairly.

Examples and more details in this thread: http://www.cocos2d-x.org/forums/19/topics/36336