Its being reported that Nintendo are planning on visiting the Foxconn factory that produces its Wii consoles in regards to the amount of suicides. The stories of suicides have been coming out more and more regularly these days and even some have made it to national news stations such as the BBC.

The main plant in Shenzhen employs over 350,000 staff and apparently most of these are migrants. Since the start of this year there have been reports of at least 12 attempted suicides and 10 deaths, most involving staff jumping from roofs. I must also state that Associated Press have reported today that only 3 people have attempted suicide, so its clear no one knows the true figure.

Foxconn are responsible for alot of items we take for granted such as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Amazon Kindle, Dell and Intel motherboards; and the Mac mini, iPod, iPhone and iPad for Apple.

As a result of the latter Apple has so far been the Western company most closely involved in the controversy and has promised to investigate accusations of long working hours and sweat shop style conditions and work practices.

According to an article posted in The Times business section Nintendo aren’t alone when it comes to investigating. Other technology giants such as Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have also launched their own investigations.

Nintendo and the other firms all have their own guidelines for working conditions at outsourced factories, but it is unclear how closely or regularly these have been monitored.

As a result of the adverse publicity an anonymous source has stated that there will be a rise of 20 per cent for wages at the factory. The hope is that workers will begin to feel happier about their life and their job. The basic monthly salary at the Shenzhen plant is currently the equivalent of just £90 ($131/€106)

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