100 Things You Never Knew About Resident Evil
85. The Genesis of Genesis
The Genesis scanner is a key gameplay feature of Resident Evil Revelations which tries to emphasise the slower pace by allowing the player to scan rooms for secrets. Perhaps more importantly, they can scan enemies for research points. In the final game, it's a hand-held device which means players have to put away their weapon to scan any incoming threat if they want to gain enough points to earn a green herb.
However, at one point in development, it was a darn-sight easier to use.
According to a sketch from the Biohazards Revelations artbook, the device - labelled as "Hyper Scanner" rather than it's final name - was a pair of goggles. Additionally, an unfinished model for this version of the device is in the game's files. Whilst the goggles definitely make practical sense, it was likely changed in order to amp up the horror aspect of the title.