This is a question I get asked regulary. Sadly, there is no easy answer to it, because it depends on the individual. Counting on future releases for a particular system isn't a wise move when you consider the reliability of the industry.
Announcements are cheap, and hype is the way to talk about software that isn t released yet.
Systems destined for the european market use the PAL video standard which offers a higher resolution, but a lower refresh frequency than the NTSC standard that is used in the US and Japan. Since most games are developed to run on NTSC displays, you ll get letterboxed game screens on PAL systems - even when the game is a domestic release. With 2D games like shooters, there is the added drawback what the games will run slower, since the animation is tied to the screen refresh. Judging from my experience there comes a time when you want to play a game that isn t released domestically yet. If it's a well established system, the chances are good that you can pick up good sofware used at great prices.