HTC Phones to Get PlayStation Certification in 2012 [REPORT]

HTC smartphones might be one of the first to get PlayStation certification, Pocket-lint reports, citing unnamed sources. The official announcement might come as soon as the end of February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, sources claim. If true, the certification will let users play PlayStation One games on HTC devices. [More from Mashable: Sony’s Annual Loss to Hit $2.9 Billion] Sony President Kaz Hirai announced the certification program back in 2011, but no mobile companies have yet confirmed they've joined it. HTC declined to officially confirm this, but if Pocket-lint's sources are correct, we should see PlayStation-certified smartphones from HTC in the second half of 2012. [More from Mashable: Today’s Top Stories: Facebook IPO, Kazuo Hirai New Sony CEO, MegaRetrieval] In August 2011 HTC announced it is buying a 51% stake in Beats Electronics for $309 million, which enabled it to launch devices integrated with Beats sound technology. Add a PlayStation certification on top of that, and you've got a nice foundation to market your devices as gaming and/or music-focused. This story originally published on Mashable here.