I'll be Nick, and you'll be Dick. Excuse me while I chuckle.
Following the cooperative shenanigans from Dead Rising 2 and Off the Record, Dead Rising 3 will feature the big-rig driver, Dick, as the partner for the main protagonist, Nick, as they "paint the town red—quite literally" according to an official post by Capcom Unity.
Both players will have free rein to explore Los Perdidos as their respective characters, as they will not be tied together on the same screen for any reason (apart from story cut-scenes, I surmise). Staying close together, however, is probably the better, more neighborly thing to do not just to cover each other's backs against Psychos, but also to man multi-person vehicles like laser turret-mounted trucks. Or you can do as Capcom suggests and "dress up like idiots together."
All progress completed with a co-op partner will transfer over to the single-player campaign, allowing you to skip a chapter that you've already completed with a friend. Thus, there seems to be no penalty for helping each other out. So let the bromance begin!
