If there’s one thing that you can be sure of, it’s that Xbox One owners absolutely love killing zombies. Since the game launched last November, “Dead Rising 3” players have killed more than 16 billion zombies – more than twice the world population of people – and have logged more than 14 million hours of gameplay. As if there wasn’t already enough to do in “Dead Rising 3,” this week will see the release of “Operation Broken Eagle,” the first episode in the game’s “Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” add-on content series. We took a break from hunting down blueprints and mowing down the undead to chat with Executive Producer Josh Bridge about both the add-on content and the title update that goes along with it.



Xbox Wire: The latest title update for “Dead Rising 3” is coming. What are some of the changes fans can expect and how did you decide on what to include in this update?



Josh Bridge: We’ve been actively engaging and monitoring fan reaction and feedback on the game and it’s really important that even though we’ve shipped the game and got it out to gamers, we want to make sure it’s a fun experience and nothing’s getting in their way. After release and through the holidays, we’ve been putting together a large update list. It’s in reaction to everything we could find and we’ve actually been directly reaching out to fans who’ve encountered issues. I think that’s really neat, because it’s an indication of how game development has changed. We have a direct connection through social channels now. There’s an ease of access for us to listen to our fans and reach out to them. It’s not just about making a game and getting it out to them, it’s about making sure they’re still having a lot of fun even after it’s out.



Xbox Wire: If you had to single out some of the biggest elements of the title update, what would they be?



Josh Bridge: We know folks had some frustration when they couldn’t pick up the weapon or food item they wanted if there was a bunch of stuff grouped together. Since there’s always a ton of stuff around in “Dead Rising 3”, we found some use cases and reached out to some fans and we improved that in this update, which is really cool. Beyond that, we’ve got some more telemetry and found there were some issues with blueprints and PP-related achievements and trials. They weren’t unlocking properly depending on the order in which they were played, whether it was online or offline, so we addressed those. We also looked at various performance improvements. In this type of big open-world game with tons of zombies and the ability to do whatever you want to do, like stacking a bunch of things and blowing them up, we knew we had to improve on those high points and tighten the gameplay experience. Finally, there were some stability issues that we dealt with to make everything that much smoother.



Xbox Wire: We’ve heard there’s some new impulse trigger support being added to “Dead Rising 3.” How will that stuff be implemented?



Josh Bridge: Yeah, we started playing around with the impulse triggers when we were working on this update and were able to get support for them in there as well. We use them as an indicator that, say, your gun is about to run out of ammo. So, as you start to near the end of the clip, that right trigger will start buzzing to make you aware that it’s about to run out. We did that across weapons as well as vehicles. If for some reason you can’t tell from the smoke and flames coming out of your vehicle, you’ll also be given that haptic feedback in case you don’t have time to look at the HUD or whatever. You can really feel more connected to the experience so as not to pull you out of the immersion.



Xbox Wire: How big is the update?



Josh Bridge: With all of the fixes and everything, it’s a large update of about 13 gigs, but we really recommend getting it to ensure compatibility with the online players and all of the upcoming add-on content that’s coming out shortly as well.



Xbox Wire: Speaking of add-on content, can you tell us a bit more about “Operation Broken Eagle” and what we can expect to see in that?



Josh Bridge: We basically wanted to take the approach of looking at what happened in the story from different points of view of the different characters and groups of characters that were involved in the main story. We built this concept of “The Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” and we’ve put together four episodes and each one of them revolves around a different new main character that you play and how their story intertwines with the “Dead Rising 3” story. So, it’s kind of cool, you get new weapons, a custom vehicle, a new story flow, new missions. It’s fun in that we got to let you take a different approach. In “Operation Broken Eagle” you’re going in with a big military point of view and deadly weapons, including this awesome chaingun that just rips apart the zombies. We really tried to focus on telling a single-player story with this experience and all of the cool things you get with the episode, including the weapons and items and vehicles, can be used in the “Dead Rising 3” main storyline and in co-op as well.



Xbox Wire: So the four episodes all tie into the main story?



Josh Bridge: Yeah, the four episodes intertwine and relate back to the main “Dead Rising 3” story. It was a really fun way to give players a different flavor and feel from the main game because you’re playing a totally different character. In “Operation Broken Eagle”, you’re playing this commander of a military group that goes into Los Perdidos earlier before the main story. It gives a totally different take on the story and that was really fun for the team and we think gamers will really get a kick out of it.



Xbox Wire: You mentioned that “Operation Broken Eagle” has a focus on a single-player story. Does that mean there’s no co-op?



Josh Bridge: No, there’s no co-op for each of the four episodes. We chose to do that so we could really drill down on a single-player experience and really tell that character’s story. We see and know that everyone really loves co-op, which is why all of those weapons and vehicles and stuff you get in the episode can be brought into the main game for co-op as well. So, say, in Nightmare mode, you can go into the weapons locker and vehicle garage and find that stuff there.



Xbox Wire: When you get the add-on content, will it be accessed through the game or will it be a menu item?



Josh Bridge: It gets added into the main menu of the game. With the Xbox One, if you have background updates on and you have the Season Pass, it’ll just seamlessly show up in the menu. You’ll fire the game up and just see “The Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” in the menu, and you can just select the episode and go.



Xbox Wire: If you had to pick a favorite weapon in “Operation Broken Eagle” that wasn’t in the main game, what would it be?



Josh Bridge: I’ve been having a lot of fun with the minigun. It’s this two-handed, big over-the-top military gun and it just feels so satisfying letting it wind up and letting it rip. It just tears up the hordes and you can destroy everything around you.

Now that sounds like a weapon everyone will love. Thanks to Josh Bridge for taking the time to chat with us. Remember to grab the title update today so you can dive right into the Add-on when it goes live tomorrow!

See below for a full list of elements within this title update: