The current installed base for game consoles in the UK has more than doubled over the past year according to information from GFK Chart-Track (via GAME).

The data shows that, from September 2007 to September 2008, the number of game-dedicated devices in UK homes went from 8.8 million to 17.3 million.

The clear winner among the home console figures is the Wii, which saw the number of people who have bought it more than triple from 1.1 million to 3.6 million in the at period.

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 both made it into a million more homes, with their install-bases growing from 1.3 to 2.3 million and 0.4 to 1.4 million respectively.

It was the DS, predictably, that saw the biggest growth overall. The DS base grew from 3.8 to 7.1 million, while the PSP’s trudged from 2.2 to 2.9 million.

Mike Rawlinson, managing director of the Entertainment Leisure & Software Publishers’ Association (ELSPA) took the opportunity to proclaim how important the games industry is - and how it will survive the impending end of capitalism. "There can be little doubt that video games are now one of the major forms of entertainment in the UK. Not only that, our industry is proving to be remarkably recession-proof when even major banks are failing", he said.

"The reason is very simple - games can offer terrific value for money. I appreciate that it is only violent or controversial games that tend to garner tabloid headlines but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of games sold in this country are for all players of all ages – and that is why the Wii with games such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit are proving to be amongst the nation’s enduring favourites”, Rawlinson concluded.

Here are the installed bases for current-gen games machines as they stand:

DS - 7.1 million
Wii - 3.6 million
PSP - 2.9 million
Xbox 360 - 2.3 million
PS3 - 1.4 million