Can the older VV gain the enhancements of this?

I have both this VV and the original "A New Home" as well. It would be really nice if those of us that have both could have the interface enhancements apply to the older game (and the fact visual traits are passed down).

Any chance of this happening?

That might be an interesting thing to do, but there are no plans at this time to release an update to the first Virtual Villagers game or to integrate the two games.

after VV3 ships, you can do an VV:Gold bundle.