Sega today announced release dates for its third-person action title, Bayonetta. Due on US shelves on the 5th of January and three days later in Europe, the title was originally pushed into the 2010 calendar year so that it would not have to compete with established Intellectual Properties over the holiday season.

The game features Devil May Cry producer Hikedi Kamiya’s trademark over-the-top stylised violence as players take control of the titular character - a reborn witch who battles her way through a fictional European city dispatching angels with everything from heel guns to her hair.

3.28pm update: we have heard from Sega NZ that the game will be released in New Zealand and Australia on January 7th 2010.