This is almost like what came before?... the chicken or the egg kinda of question. It takes good design and great code. It takes two to tango. If we take GB for example, the design really made the first impression and boosted sales even before a first code update. Even with code 1.10's poor reception, people are still buying in droves. Mind you design can only bring you so far. Eventually strong code has to be implemented to complement the machine or else the games turn into polished turds. Design is more important for operators because they want people to step up to the machine. For the collectors, code becomes more important as time goes by.

You can't have one without the other.
GOT Pro for example, suffers from poor graphical design, that backglass is absolutely horrible not to mention the look of the playfield. It was overall a miss. While code is good, I only played it once on location. I can't stare at it without feeling let down. in other words sales would have been better if the theme would have been darker and more in line with the look and feel of the show.

1. Design
2. Code

ah yes. The only thing I really hate about GB is the drop targets but mind you once you get the hang of it it becomes more of a challenge than a nuissance. Airballs definitely bad. Apart from that I get a kick out of it. And that flipper gap must be the best thing that has happen . I've learned to really nudge the game now and has made me a better player overall. Especially on other games with the regular gap, I tend to drain alot lesss now.