Can particle object color and alpha be controlled by Particle Age (Blender Internal Render)? Can particle object color and alpha be changed in Blender Internal Render?

Edit for Clarity 6 months later.

Blender Cycles has this practical feature Particle Info Node.

Blender Internal appears not to have an equivalent feature.

Blender Internal.  Is it easy to change dynamically, based on strand/particle mapping, halo particle size and opacity. Thus halos of different ages will have different opacity and sizes.   Halo and Object are different choices for particles on the particles pane.

Is it possible to achieve a similar color and transparency control with object particles based on particle age?

Failed attempts to achieve goal follow.

I have changed the opacity of a particle halo with a second material with a texture on the emitter.

When I try to change the opacity of a regular particle object, the material selection is grayed in the emitter particle panel.
I added a material and texture using the strand/particle mapping to the particle object.
The particle object was rendered, but the material failed and did not achieve my desired results.
The way I solved this was to give the particle object (not the emitter) a blend texture, mapped to the coordinates of an empty.

This way, the colour of the particle depends on the distance to the empty.

Example here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/il0aiq8a7gteelw/chimney.blend?dl=0